ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – There was no finish in the “battle of finishers,” but Chris Lozano and Brent Weedman put on quite a show in front of a highly-enthused New Jersey crowd.

Heading into the bout Lozano had accumulated eight finishes in his eight career wins, while Weedman had 17 in his 18 career victories. Something had to give. Except nothing ever did.

The fight served as the main event of Bellator 49, which took place Saturday night at New Jersey’s Caesars Atlantic City and aired on MTV2. The preliminary card streamed on Spike.com.

Predictably, as soon as the bell sounded to begin the first round, both fighters rushed to the center of the cage and went to work. In the initial exchange, Weedman dropped Lozano with a right hand, but he was able to quickly recover. From there, it was Weedman’s multiple takedowns and formidable back control that dominated the rest of the frame and secured it for him.

In the second round the tables turned quickly. Lozano began to get the better of Weedman in the kickboxing exchanges by using superior power and pulling the trigger before his opponent. The heavy-handed Lozano did major damage to the chin of Weedman, who somehow kept it together and even continued moving forward into the onslaught.

The third and final round began with Lozano attempting two spinning back kicks, the second of which was caught and resulted in him being on bottom. Lozano worked his way back up and tripped Weedman to the ground, where he promptly began pounding the body of his foe and looking to transition to a keylock. Lozano then took his opponent’s back, but Weedman got out and dragged him down. The back-and-forth scrambles continued until the final bell sounded.

In the end, judges Ricardo Almeida, Romulo Bittencourt, and Cardo Urso all gave rounds one and three to Lozano.

With the win, Lozano (9-1 MMA, 2-1 BFC) rebounds from his first Bellator loss, while Weedman (18-7-1 MMA, 4-2 BFC) falls to 0-2 in his past two outings.
Saunders outclasses late replacement Cisneros

It took him two rounds to get warmed up, but Ben Saunders put the pedal to the metal in the final stanza and finished off an overmatched Chris Cisneros.

Cisneros took the fight on just a couple weeks of notice, filling in for the injured Rick Hawn.

Rounds one and two saw Saunders control the Hawaiian native with his grappling and top control. While he did not do any significant damage with strikes, Saunders was able to actively seek out submissions and keep Cisneros on the defensive.

In the third, Saunders’ launched a flurry of his patented knees from the thai plum. The blows eventually doubled over Cisneros. A couple ground-and-pound strikes later and the referee had seen enough.

The finish runs Saunders’ (11-3-2 MMA, 2-0 BFC) unbeaten streak inside the promotion to two, while Cisneros (13-4 MMA, 0-1 BFC) loses for the first time since Nov. 2008.

Santos outpoints Hornbuckle in unanimous fashion

The first round was quite the feeling-out process for southpaws Luis Santos and Dan Hornbuckle.

While both men traded leg kicks and grazing punches, Santos appeared to have landed with the superior force. It was enough to win him the round on all three judge’s scorecards.

In the second, and throughout the better part of the third, neither man appeared to want to take control of the fight, and there were long stretches of inactivity.

However, late in the third, Santos put his stamp on the round (and the fight) with a high kick that caught Hornbuckle in the neck area that may have also grazed his chin.

It was easily the best strike of the match and briefly stunned Hornbuckle, relegating him into retreat mode. A brief flurry from Santos followed just before the bell sounded to end the contest.

The victory doubles Santos’ (50-6-1 MMA, 2-0 BFC) win total in Bellator to two. Hornbuckle (22-5 MMA, 3-3 BFC), on the other hand, is reeling having lost three of his past four.
Former MFC champ Lima grinds out decision after early scare

In the evening’s broadcast-opening bout, former MFC welterweight champion Douglas Lima earned a workmanlike decision in his much-anticipated promotional debut.

Well, workmanlike after an initial tense moment.

Early in the opening frame his opponent Steve Carl was able to land a looping right hand that caught Lima behind the ear. The punch staggered the 23-year-old, who immediately dove for a leg to regain his wits. Lima was able to fight through the adversity and avoid any further damage.

From then on it was all Lima, who established his jab at range and was able to land clean left hooks when Carl rushed inside. Lima also dominated the positioning when the fight hit the floor in rounds two and three, while avoiding Carl’s repeated kimura attempts with ease.

In securing his spot in Bellator’s season-five welterweight tournament semifinals, Lima (19-4 MMA, 1-0 BFC) extended his win streak to seven. Meanwhile, Carl (14-3 MMA, 2-2 BFC) lost for just the second time in his last eleven bouts.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?